October second

Today's Highlight in History:
On October second, 1950, the comic strip "Peanuts," created by Charles M. Schulz, was first published in nine newspapers. (Also pictured: panel from Oct. 2, 1950 comic strip.)

On this date:
In 1780, British spy John Andre was hanged in Tappan, New York.

In 1835, the first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry near the Guadalupe River.

In 1890, comedian Groucho Marx was born in New York.

In 1919, President Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

In 1941, German armies began Operation "Typhoon" -- an all-out drive against Moscow.

In 1944, Nazi troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people were killed.

In 1958, the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa proclaimed its independence.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court; he was the first black appointed to the nation's highest court.

In 1975, President Ford welcomed Japan's Emperor Hirohito to the United States.

In 1985, actor Rock Hudson died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at age 59 after a battle with AIDS.

Ten years ago: The Senate voted 90-to-nine to confirm the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the Supreme Court. President Bush, trying to muster acceptance for a $500 billion package of tax increases and spending cuts, asked Americans in a televised address to support the plan.

Five years ago: O.J. Simpson's jurors stunned the courtroom and the nation by reaching verdicts in the sensational eight-month murder trial in less than four hours. (The decision was kept secret until the following day, when it was announced that Simpson had been acquitted.)

One year ago: The Brooklyn Museum of Art opened its much-hyped "Sensation" exhibit which had drawn controversy because of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's move to cut off city funding to the museum. (Giuliani objected to some of the artwork, which included a portrait of the Virgin Mary decorated with elephant dung.)

"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do."

-- Booker T. Washington, American educator and author (1856-1915).